God’s Covenant with Abram
15 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

Genesis 15:1
New King James Version

Yes, I really need God's shield when I go to the hearing about the $120 fine the city inspector gave us for the broken garage roof. There is a hearing because I want to ask for a waiver of the fine. I feel like I am going into a war and can get disturbed and depressed by how the conversations go. It will be virtual. I search online and feel this fine is not waivable but the person on the phone at the court told me it is up to the judge whether it will be waived. If he had told me it is not waivable, then I won't bother to ask for the hearing to waste my time and the judge's time. I feel nervous and hopeless but $120 is a lot of money. Maybe the judge will reduce it. What is weird is the city inspector who gave us the fine is from the same city as the city that is helping us pay for the cost of the demolition (he is in the same building). Please pray that I will talk politely to the judge. When I get nervous which I know I will when I talk to the judge, I can sound arrogant or not convincing. I can't wait for this hearing to pass. Our garage will be demolished about two weeks from now. Please pray for me that I will be coherent and communicate well and leave this matter in God's hands. Thank you for your prayers. The hearing is on January 9.

I'll be praying for you. I know that we are all in God's hands,
Normally I don't use this version of the Bible, but here's a really useful translation of Matthew 6:34
Matthew 6:34
The Message
34 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

Read full chapter
Matthew 6:34 in all English translations

I like that it says God will help us deal with whatever comes up. That's a really good thing to remember.

Peace and blessings.

Thank you for your support. It helps to have someone to talk to. I went to my dental appointment today and talked to the dental assistant about this. She thinks this fine should be able to be waived and that they should have given me a warning instead of a fine and given us the chance to fix the problem first before throwing the fine at us. She said it is not common knowledge (the housing violation code regarding a collapsing roof). The garage is very out of the way of the public eye because it has a lot of tall trees and wooden fences blocking it and is next to an alley. I guess it still violates the code. What I am trying to say is we didn't know it is a problem since it should not bother anyone. The contractor who is going to do the work told me there are many other buildings around our neighborhood that have even worse problems than this, and they don't get (tickets) fines. I am not sure what is happening here. I just feel we should have been told that it was not okay and to fix it without being fined. I am glad someone (the dental assistant lady) sees it the same way. Thank you for your prayers for me. I am still preparing my "speech" and have come down to two versions, one longer one with more details and one short one. Please pray that God will be with me when I have to talk in the meeting. I hope you and everyone have a good day today.